Recently, Hainan Coconut Tree Group was fined 400,000 yuan by the market supervision department for violating public order and good customs such as "rubbing milk with coconut water" and "South Pacific beauties rarely 'airport'" in its advertising, and violating the relevant provisions of the "Advertising Law".
The company then issued a statement expressing its "dissatisfaction", which sparked heated public discussions
On the evening of May 9, Coconut Tree Group issued a statement of "one worry" and "two dissatisfaction" in response, saying that it was worried that the famous brand would be destroyed and affect the livelihood of employees and coconut farmers, and also said that reprinting "rubbing milk with coconut water" and "few beauties in the South Pacific" at the "airport" on the official website of "Coconut Tree" is popular science education, not a commercial advertisement, and expressed dissatisfaction with the illegal advertisement.
It is not the first time that Coconut Tree Group has been administratively punished by the regulatory authorities for its promotional content and advertising language that hinders social public order or violates good social customs.
According to public information, in March 2021, Coconut Tree Group released a recruitment advertisement for "cultivating the president and deputy general manager", saying that "if you enter school, you will have a car, a house, a high salary, a future, and you can get rich, and there must be handsome guys and beauties to chase you", which was identified by the Hainan Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau as obstructing social public order or violating good social customs, and was fined 400,000 yuan.
In March 2019, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television pointed out that some versions of the coconut water advertisements of the Coconut Tree brand promoted vulgar content, violated social customs, and had deviations in value orientation, and suspended some of the advertisements. On March 27 of the same year, the former Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Longhua District, Haikou City, Hainan Province, determined that the coconut water advertisement of the coconut tree brand violated good social customs and fined the coconut tree group 200,000 yuan.
However, as a beverage company, Coconut Tree Group's achievements in the pure juice beverage market also have its own commendable points. It's a bit like a "smart" elementary school student who "keeps making big mistakes and making small mistakes". Teachers and parents often love and worry about such students, on the one hand, they hope that they will give full play to their talents and achieve better results; On the other hand, they are worried that they have wasted a lot of good resources, and in the end they are "lost to everyone".
Compared with the annual sales of 5 billion yuan of Coconut Tree Group, the fine of 400,000 yuan imposed by the regulatory authorities seems to be insignificant, and it is difficult to deter the impulse of enterprises to play "edge ball". The author guesses that in the cycle of repeated offenses and punishments, enterprises may have found the advertising traffic password? The vulgar advertisement of "rubbing the edge" was fined for "not being expensive", but the effect of announcing the "dissatisfied" advertisement was full, and the topic, popularity, and traffic were all there, which was the "rubbing content" of oneself.
Vulgar advertisements should be effectively supervised, and the determination of whether or not to "step on the line" and the severity of the penalty scale requires the regulatory authorities to accurately control the intensity and temperature. For an enterprise that has adhered to the "side-kicking" style for a long time, is there no regulatory method that can touch its heart and touch its core concern? Is there a content review for this kind of corporate advertising? Can advertisers, ad producers, and ad publishers be punished together? Can it be required to take back the products that contain the packaging of the penalized promotional content?
When an enterprise develops to a certain stage, the brand image should be a high-probability event that consumers will paint a portrait of it even if they don't pay attention to it. Too vulgar propaganda will also cause enterprises to lose a large part of the market that could have been explored. Therefore, it seems that increasing the added value of product culture, forming a unique cultural symbol in the industry, and meeting the new consumption needs of consumers chasing quality and personalization should become the goal pursued by Coconut Tree.
In the face of the wayward style of enterprises publishing vulgar advertisements, consumers' choices are a powerful corrective force. I believe that no parent wants their children to come into contact with those drinks that use bewitching and ambiguous images for advertising, which may be the reason why coconut palm brand coconut water has always become an embarrassing existence as an original ecological product.
Source: "China Consumer Daily" WeChat official account